One of the brightest stars of the queer zine and small press comics boom of the 1990s was cartoonist Diane DiMassa, whose legendary character Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist touched a cultural nerve. Hothead's adventures—collected in a comprehensive, eponymous new book (New York Review Comics, Sept.)—were born of what DiMassa calls "rage therapy." In a world full of blatant injustice, Hothead fearlessly castrated rapists, torched neo-Nazis, and generally acted as an avenger for victims of misogyny and homophobia everywhere.
PW talked with DiMassa about revisiting her 30-year-old oeuvre in the era of Trump, her use of humor amid dark material, and what the modern-day response to Hothead might be.
These comics capture intense feelings. What’s it been like to read them again?
I mostly found myself laughing. I started drawing Hothead in my journal to work on my anger issues—not even anger, it was rage. When I go back and read through them, I still get mad, but I react differently. A huge part of my sober journey has been examining anger and the emotional damage that comes with it. Now when I read Hothead acting out, I connect with her intensity, but I channel my outward behavior differently.
Hothead can act out and I can't. The boundaries of what normal anger is are clear for me. Those comics are emotional autobiography. I’ve changed, but I still see how valid the old anger still is.
Are there any specific ways that your work is in dialogue with what's happening now?
Well, the present is just horrific. People ask me, how would Hothead be if she woke up today? I think she'd need some time to take it all in. First, there's all this new technology to deal with. But there’s also this whole new generation of young people coming in with their activism, and all their increased visibility—along with the ensuing backlash, as always. How are people protesting? How have people changed? How mad is everybody? What are they doing about it? And is anything really working or happening?
In the comics you present intense and uncomfortable content, but also some really funny stuff. Were you consciously trying to lighten the load for readers?
Humor comes naturally to me. It's like when you go insane and you start laughing maniacally at something really horrible because you just can't take anymore—that's the place where Hothead’s humor comes from.
Can you see yourself drawing any new Hothead adventures?
I think about it all the time. I think that would actually be the only way I could figure out how Hothead might be nowadays. It's harder to see her as a solo act, because the resistance movement is so much larger now. I think she might start taking cues from younger people—their visibility and proudly claiming their space.
Would you age her and bring her into the present day? Or would she just be an ageless cartoon character?
I used to think that if I did revive her, I would call her Hot Flash Paisan! But I wouldn't want her to age and die, no way.
Is there anything you'd like to say to new readers encountering Hothead for the first time?
Take whatever you want from it. And hopefully be inspired to use your voice. Know that there are lots of people on our side who are fighting. We can fight, but we can live our lives, too. You don't need to let the scary state of things ruin your life. Resist in whatever way you’re comfortable, create your world, and be happy.
